Turn On The Jets Stock Watch – Fire Sale Edition

At this point there isn’t a whole heck of a lot left to say about the debacle of a game last week against the 49ers that hasn’t already been said by everyone. Sanchez stunk. The run game is crap. The wide receivers wouldn’t even start for the University of Alabama. The tight ends wouldn’t even MAKE the University of Alabama team. The linebackers should be put out to pasture. There is no pass rush. Kyle Wilson is yet another blemish on Mike Tannenbaum’s draft record. Ah yes, Mike Tannenbaum, the General Manager who refused to read my letter to him before the season. Perhaps he should have heeded my advice, because I warned him in that letter that the complete and utter lack of a plan on this team was going to get him fired, and it’s looking like that’s going to be the case. (Crossing my fingers.)

Rather than buy and sell, or more accurately just sell everything from last week’s performance, I’m going to run down the things I’m buying for the rest of the season and what I — and all Jets fans — should be hoping to see from here on out.

BUY: Mark Sanchez start every game – I don’t care how bad he looked last week (and even the most ardent Sanchez supporter would have to say he played poorly), he is the best option for this team at quarterback. Tim Tebow is not the solution long-term so what is the point? Greg McElroy isn’t the answer, unless the question is “Who should be the backup quarterback next season?”. Let’s see if Sanchez can make chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what. His receivers without Holmes are terrible. TERRIBLE. His right tackle is terrible. His tight ends with Keller out are terrible. Actually “terrible” isn’t even a strong enough word for Jeff Cumberland and Dedrick Epps. I’d need to combine several gross words to describe them. They’re terribawfulcrap. The run game is an embarrassment to run games. I wouldn’t even call it a “run game” because what they do isn’t running the ball as much as much as it’s just slowly falling forward each time it’s handed off. The point is, Sanchez has the worst supporting cast around him in the NFL at this point. Let’s see if he can play well despite that and earn the trust of the coaching staff and fan base going forward. I’m still a believer.

BUY: Powell, McKnight, and Grimes at RB – Nobody defended Shonn Greene more than me heading into this season, but it’s over. He’s a complementary back, and it won’t be for the Jets going forward so there’s not much of a point to seeing him plod ahead and fall down for 3 yards over and over. We know what he can do. He’s still a useful player in the right situation, and if the Jets were good still, I’d be saying he should definitely be getting plenty of touches. But the Jets aren’t good. Let’s see if Bilal Powell can be next season’s starter. Let’s FINALLY see what Joe McKnight can do — on offense, not as a cornerback. And let’s see if this Jonathan Grimes character off the Texans practice squad can offer anything at all. Why not, right?

BUY: Hill, Kerley, Schilens at WR – Could this be considered a “good” group of WR’s? No of course not. That’s a laughable thought. It’s probably the worst group in the NFL. But there certainly isn’t much of a point to bringing in Terrell Owens or Plaxico Burress is there? Could a guy like Plax help this team go from a 5 win team to a 6 win team? Perhaps, but in the long run that hurts us. Let the young guys play and hope they improve enough to be reliable contributors next season, especially Hill. It’s a good thing Mike Tannenbaum loaded this roster with #4 receivers though, isn’t it? Any time you can give your starting QB two #4 receivers, a solid slot guy, and a #142 tight end to throw to, you do it and wait for the wins to pile up!

BUY: Vlad Ducasse at Guard – Gulp. Yes, I said it. If the team is going to pretend Vlad Ducasse is a real NFL player and hope none of us notice, then let’s freaking see it. Throw the big oaf out there and let’s see if he can manage to not get any of his teammates killed. And if he trips and falls over Jeff Cumberland and knocks him out a few weeks, then at least we can say Vlad finally contributed to the team.

BUY: Quinton Coples – !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I know it’s a novel concept, but let’s play our first round pick who just happens to be our ONLY threat as a pass rusher up front. Last week the Jets had 3 pressures, which sadly is not a misprint. Anyway, Coples had 2 of them in limited action. Let’s see more 4-man fronts, and I don’t want to hear about how Coples struggles against the run for two reasons. 1) I don’t even think that’s true, and 2) Even if it is true, are Calvin Pace, Bryan Thomas, and Garrett McIntyre doing ANYTHING out there that would make you think they deserve snaps? Speaking of which..

BUY: Aaron Maybin – Same logic as with Coples, really. He can rush the passer, which the Jets seem to be allergic to. And sure he sucks against the run, but here’s the thing: SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE! Who cares? Maybe he’ll manage to create some havoc and get into the backfield for a change. And if he doesn’t, there’s really not much difference than the other guys.

BUY: Demario Davis at LB – It sure would be nice to see a linebacker who doesn’t need a sun dial to time his 40 yard dash, wouldn’t it? I know I’ve used that joke before, but I will continue to do so until it isn’t relevant to the Jets roster. The linebackers are ssslllloooooowwwww. If it was 1988, then having all these big, slow as crap linebackers would probably be a good thing. But it’s not 1988, and it’s definitely not a good thing.

BUY: Aaron Berry at CB – Kyle Wilson sucks. I was hoping against hope that it wasn’t true, but it is. The guy looks like he has absolutely no clue what he’s doing out there. And after watching him finger-wag Mario Manningham last week after getting absolutely torched repeatedly, he makes me think he’s the worst kind of suck too. He legitimately thinks he’s good and has a major false sense of accomplishment. Considering he’ll be out of the league in 2 years, I hope he saved up some of that big bag of money that Mike Tannenbaum gave him. Aaron Berry is a horrible human being, but he was a pretty solid cornerback for Detroit and likely will help more as a nickel back between Revis and Cromartie than Wilson ever did.

BUY: A high draft pick – Sadly, it’s looking like the team that was oh-so-close just two years ago is completely shot. The team needed to be re-tooled over the past two offseasons at several key positions like linebacker, offensive line, and running back, but it never happened. Draft busts like Kyle Wilson, Vlad Duacasse, and pretty much all the running backs that Tannenbaum loves collecting have been useless. There is no depth, no talent on offense, little talent on defense, and our star player in Darrelle Revis is injured. As a fan, it’s impossible to root against the Jets when they play on Sundays, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if this ends in 5-11 or something like that. Tannenbaum will likely be canned, veterans like Pace and Scott and their big contracts with be purged, and things will look much different next year. Hopefully all these injuries and subpar performances land us a really high draft pick for the first time since 2008 so even our pathetic scouting department can’t mess it up.

Oh wait, that year we drafted Vernon Gholston. We are doomed.

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Tucci

I can’t argue with anything you wrote but I question Woody Johnson pulling the trigger on Tannenbaum. And is he willing to bring in a Bill Polian or someone of that football mentality to actually run the show and do what’s necessary?

Let’s hope.

MT

Eric

I honestly feel it’s time to end the Sanchez era. He just isn’t a good QB, and certainly not a top 5 pick. I thought for sure after working with Chad Pennington he’d be better this year, but really… his mechanics are terrible. Even when he HAS time he overthrows guys and misses wide open receivers regularly. I just don’t see any growth by him. He’s making the same mistakes he made as a rookie. I do think they should stick with him this year, but mostly because I’m afraid Tebow will play well enough to fool the dolts we have in the front office that he can be a good NFL QB.

Your last point was correct, but I don’t want 5-11. Give me 3-13. I’ll live through this season if it means we have a chance to get Geno Smith next year. Smith looks a lot like a certain Baylor QB looked last year who wound up winning the Heisman.

Phil D

I have been laughing non-stop after reading Mike Donnelly’s work. great job Mike-hysterical!! And I’m a fan of 40 years so this is really no laughing matter! But at this point it’s almost comical. It’s gooing to be a really long fall with my brand new 60″ flatscreen showing the piles of green and white garbage but I’ve rarely seen a worse performance (Oh yeah, 45-3 Pats on a Monday night…) than Sunday. I never shut off games and I did on Sunday and went and mowed my field. I’ve just about lost faith in this regime. All the big talk has worn off-just Hubris now. I seriously had my doubts when they traded for Tebow-just couldn’t figure out how they were ever going to effectively use him. Turns out nobody on the Jets knows what to do with him either. And Mike D’s article about how to undermine your QB could not be more accurate..I’ve been saying it for years. Just keep dumping your decent receivers and keep the useless O-line players and..voila…a scared and useless QB. Oh yeah, pay him a few million more and bring in Tebow. The only thing I might disagree with above is why not throw McElroy in there? Just play every fu%*ing guy on your roster and see who has any heart or talent. Just do it. No more sacred cows. Who cares. Let them get some game-day experience and whoever keeps sucking then dump ‘em at years end and find solid players.

Phil D

But wait!! Mike T has done it again! He’s struck gold and signed Lex Hilliard! Yes! we’re okay now! Another Sparano pile of steaming crap to go with Clyde “Steaming pile” Gates (Another Sparano favorite!!. Hilliard has had an illustrious career-a 2.8 ypc in the 2008 preseason with the dolphins then released, picked up by the Vikings, released, picked up by the Pats where he played in 2 games recording two rushes for 1 yard. At least we’re staying consistent! Another plodding, fall-forward, 1-yard-and-a-cloud-of-dust-type of back. Why get a speedy, hit-the-hole-really-quickly back like Jamaal Charles or LeSean McCoy when you can get the plodding type? Why?

mike

dude, the team is 2-2. i probably have more to say about all the things they’ve messed up roster-wise over the past four years than anyone else i know, but the fact is that this team is 2-2. indy, miami, seattle, st. louis, jacksonville, tennessee, buffalo. those are all games that not very good teams can easily win. i even left off arizona and san diego, which are also games that may be winnable.
i was there on sunday, i understand first hand just how terrible this team is playing. but that really doesn’t alter the fact that the jets, as currently constituted, could easily wind up with 8-10 wins.
i don’t expect anyone to agree at the moment, because things look pretty bleak. but the back half of the schedule is STILL soft, and talking about a 5 win season at this point, when we already have two under out belt and the losses came against two of the better teams in the league, seems hyperbolic and reactionary.
calm down everybody. the jets are on pace to give up 2,700 rushing yards this season. does anyone think that’ll actually happen?

mike

“Why get a speedy, hit-the-hole-really-quickly back like Jamaal Charles or LeSean McCoy when you can get the plodding type? Why?”

because those guys are signed to other teams. the hysteria here is pretty over the top. i mean, we might already have too many wins to land geno smith!
will everyone please remember all this 3-13 talk when it’s week 16 and the jets need to beat the chargers to stay in the hunt?
by the way, sanchez has a better qb rating against houston than he does against any team in the nfl except oakland and kc. when the sky falls, we’ll know because the team won’t be .500 sharing the division lead.

jeez!

Jim G

Agree with most of this but the Sanchez part sounds like more excuses for his awful play. The truth is that he has major accuracy issues, an atrocious “feel for the game”, and turns the ball over constantly by making the same mistakes over and over again.

He could be surrounded by a wr corps of Calvin Johnson type wr’s, and it wouldn’t matter. He would still be throwing over their heads, behind them, and every few attempts, still throw it to the other team. The truth is he is a bum. He shows a flash here and there, but that’s it. This team goes as far as the QB takes them, and with this QB, we all can see where they are headed.